Little Italy

The ever-shrinking NYC neighborhood of Little Italy used to stretch between Lafayette Street and the Bowery, from Canal to Houston Street. Today, the area is still decisively Italian only in a handful of blocks around Mulberry Street. The annual Feast of San Gennaro has not been displaced, and the authentic, tasty pasta dishes remain the tourist favorite. Mulberry Street is also home to some of the best clothing stores and bars in the whole of New York City.

New York City's 520-mile coastline is longer than those of Miami, Boston, Los Angeles, and San Francisco combined.

It can cost over $289,000 for a one-year hot dog stand permit in Central Park.

Up until 1957, a pneumatic mail tube system used to connect 23 post offices across 27 miles in NYC. At one point, the system moved 97,000 letters a day.

The scary nitrogen gas tanks you sometimes see on the corners of NYC streets are used to keep underground telephone wires dry.

There is a secret train platform in the Waldorf Astoria hotel.

NYC buries its unclaimed bodies on an island off the coast of the Bronx called Hart Island. Since 1869, nearly a million bodies have been buried there. The island is not open to the public.

Times Square is named after the New York Times. It was originally called Longacre Square until The Times moved there in 1904.

The acclaimed movie "Taxi Driver" featuring Robert De Niro was filmed at Bellmore Cafeteria on Park Avenue and along Columbus Avenue.

There are "fake" buildings in the city that are used for subway maintenance and ventilation. E.g. 3-story historic townhouse at 58 Joralemon Street in Brooklyn Heights

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade originally featured live animals from the Central Park Zoo, but they occasionally roared and scared children, so they were replaced with balloons.

On 9/11, when all transport out of the city was shut down, citizen boat owners managed to transport over 500k people from Manhattan Island in an amazing act of selflessness and camaraderie known as the “9/11 Boatlift.”

Albert Einstein's eyeballs are stored in a safe deposit box in New York City.

From 1904 to 1948 there was an 18th Street station on the 4/5/6 line. It's abandoned now, but you can still see it on local 6 trains.

Eating a New York bagel is equivalent to eating one-quarter to one-half a loaf of bread.

The first daily Yiddish newspaper appeared in 1885 in New York City.

In 1920, a horse-drawn carriage filled with explosives was detonated on Wall Street killing 30 people. No one was ever caught, but the event is considered to be one of the first ever acts of domestic terrorism.

The first public brewery in America was established by Peter Minuit at the Market (Marckvelt) field in lower Manhattan.

All through the 20th century, and up until 2007, parts of Lower Manhattan were wired up using Edison’s original 110V DC.

The United Nations headquarters was established in New York City in 1952 after World War II.

In nine years, Madison Square Garden's lease will run out and the celebrated venue will have to move.

A little over 8 million people live in New York City. That means 1 in every 38 people in the United States calls NYC - home.

The New York Public Library has over 50 million books and other items and is the second largest library system in the nation after the Library of Congress. It is also the third largest library in the world.

The narrowest house in NYC is in the West Village: 75 1/2 Bedford Street is just over 9 feet wide.

There's a wind tunnel near the Flat Iron building that can raise women's skirts. In the not-so-distant past, men used to gather outside of the building to feast their eyes on the effect.

Up until World War II, everyone in the entire New York City who was moving - had to move to their new apartment on May 1.

Sam Schapiro began the Kosher wine industry on New York's Lower East side with their famous extra heavy original concord wine in 1899

The first capital of the United States was New York City. In 1789 George Washington took his oath as President on the balcony at Federal Hall.

The first presentation of 3D films before a paying audience took place at Manhattan's Astor Theater on June 10, 1915.

In 1922, there was a Straw Hat Riot. It was an unofficial rule in NYC that straw hats weren't allowed to be worn past Sept. 15, but some unruly kids started snatching people's hats a few days before that, causing an uprising that lasted a few days.

Brooklyn was once the “Coffee Capital.” By 1906, about 25 million pounds of coffee a month was roasted at the Arbuckle Brothers coffee factory on John Street.

Joseph C. Gayetty of New York City invented toilet paper in 1857.

740 Park in Manhattan is currently home to the highest concentration of billionaires in the country.

France gifted the Statue of Liberty to the United States in 1886 for its Centennial celebration. The statue was shipped as 350 pieces in 214 crates and took 4 months to assemble at its current home on Ellis Island.

The Fashion Institute of Technology in Manhattan is the only school in the world offering a Bachelor of Science Degree with a Major in Cosmetics and Fragrance Marketing.

New York City’s Federal Reserve Bank has the largest storage of gold in the world. The Fed's vault is 80 feet below street level and contains $90 billion in gold.

Charles Feltman is said to have invented the hot dog at Coney Island in 1867. The famous Nathan’s was later opened by one of his former employees.

The first bank card, named “Charg-It,” was introduced in 1946 in Brooklyn by banker John Biggins.

In NYC, there was one homicide on 9/11, and it remains unsolved.

The "New York Post" established in 1803 by Alexander Hamilton is the oldest running newspaper in the United States.

The city of New York will pay for a one-way plane ticket for any homeless person if they have a guaranteed place to stay.

America’s first rollercoaster debuted on June 16, 1884 on Coney Island in Brooklyn. Known as the Switchback Railway, it only traveled six miles per hour.

NYC garbage collectors call maggots "disco rice."

New York City has 722 miles of subway tracks.

In 1884, in order to prove that the Brooklyn Bridge was stable, P.T. Barnum led 21 elephants over it.

All square footage measurements are approximate and should be independently verified and confirmed. No guarantee, warranty or representation of any kind is made regarding the completeness or accuracy of such measurements and Ideal Properties Group LLC expressly disclaims any liability in connection with such measurements.